Spontaneous activity patterns in animal behaviour: the irrigation of the burrow in the polychaetes<i>Chaetopterus variopedatus</i>Renier and<i>Nereis diversicolor</i>O. F. Müller

Abstract

Simple methods for recording the water currents, which many polychaetes drive through their tubes, are described. The circulation may be either open (the worm having access to large amounts of well-aerated sea water) or closed (in which case the worm can circulate a small volume only, and there is no oxygenacion or removal of excretory products). When on open circulation, both Chaetopterus variopedatus and Nereis diversicolor often trace quite regularly cyclical patterns for hours at a stretch. Each species has several possible patterns, and may change from one to another without evident external cause. The tracings of each species differ from those of the other, and also from those of Arenicola marina , which were described elsewhere.